Neither Judge, Nor Imitate

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vrindavan Dham, evening class
31 October 2019, translated from Bengali, part 3

vrndavane giya na thakiya chira kala
govardhane uthiya na dekhiya gopala

"When you go to Vrindavan, do not stay there for a long time and do not climb the Govardhan Hill to see Gopal."

Mahaprabhu told Jagadananda Pandit, "Always stay with Srila Rupa Goswami and Srila Sanatan Goswami, follow their guidance and serve them. Do not go anywhere without their order, always stay with them."

One time, Mahaprabhu and Jagadananda Pandit had a quarrel and Jagadananda Pandit came to Vrindavan out of anger. He describes it in his Sri Prema-vivarta, you can see it there. He says, "Angry with Mahaprabhu, I have come here, but I cannot see here anything—I have not got anything by coming here!"

We cannot see anything, that is why we must always take shelter of a bona fide Guru.

One time, when our Gurudev was doing Vrindavan parikrama with Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, one story happened. Gurudev was a very young brahmachari at that time, and Srila Guru Maharaj went to the house of one of the Govardhan pandas (priests). The priest was very happy that Srila Sridhar Maharaj had come with Gurudev. He gave Srila Sridhar Maharaj a khatiya to sit on [খাটিয়া, a wooden carcass with the sleeping place made with interwoven rope] and told his daughter, "Hey, lali, bring some prasadam of the Lord for Maharaj!" The girl put some sweets on a plate and offered it to Giriraj. How did she offer it? She showed the plate to the Deity and said, "Hey Gopal! Here, eat it!" Then she gave the plate to Srila Guru Maharaj and Sridhar Maharaj took those sweets. He wanted to give some to Gurudev too, but Gurudev did not take it. Later, Srila Sridhar Maharaj asked Gurudev, "Gaurendu, why did not take those sweets?" Gurudev said, "I saw that when the panda told the girl to bring prasad, she moved her gopi-dress, sat down, passed urine and went to get the prasad. She had not even washed her hands—with the same hand she offered the sweets to Gopal and with the same hand she gave it to you." Srila Sridhar Maharaj told then, "You must not judge Vraja-basis—you must not see their faults. That is why it is very difficult to stay in Vrindavan."

We must understand and always remember these things.

Another thing is that one must have the qualification to enter such stage or life. If you try to practise such raga-marga, you will become a sahajiya (gross imitator). Some say, "Oh, I have become Radharani's sakhi [girlfriend]," "Oh, we have become Radharani's manjari [younger girlfriends]," "We have become this," "We have become that," some say, "We have attained Krishna-prema!" But Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself said, "I do not have a trace of love for Krishna!"

"Mukhe bole ra-ra-ra, dui nayane bahe dhara (মুখে বলে রা-রা-রা- দুই নয়নে বহে ধারা)"—those who behold Srimati Radharani cannot even pronounce Her Name, they keep saying "Ra-ra-ra." Mahaprabhu could not even pronounce Radharani's Name! Have you not heard also what people say? They say, "If you say 'Radhe Radhe' or 'Jay Nitai' you will get more money!" In Bangladesh, somebody can come to your house crying out, "Jay Nitai! Jay Nitai!", you open the door for them and the thief gets inside! Mirabhai said, "I have got love for Krishna," but Gaudiya Vaishnavs do not approve of this. We do not follow Mirabhai's line. Who will you follow if you bypass gopis, sakhis and manjaris? This is not our line.

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